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Sunday, November 1, 2009

Video: An IL-76 plane crashes in Yakutia, 11 crewmen dead

A Russian cargo plane crashed in the far-eastern Yakutia region on November 1, killing all 11 crewmembers on board.

According to Russian state media, the plane had just unloaded its cargo at Mirnyi airport before taking off and crashing 25 km (15 miles) away.

The plane, called Ilyushin, came down in a deserted area and there were no casualties on the ground, said local officials.

A special commission of the Russian Interior Ministry flew to the crash site to investigate the cause of the accident.

Bodies of the 11 crewmembers from plane have been recovered from the scene, reports said. SOURCE
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KHABAROVSK, (Itar-Tass) - A special commission of the Russian Interior Ministry has left Moscow for Yakutia to investigate the causes of an IL-76 cargo plane crash.

The accident occurred at about 02:00 Moscow time as the plane was taking off from the Mirnyi airport, the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), a source at the Far Eastern regional centre of the Russian Emergencies Ministry told Itar-Tass.

The cargo plane had arrived in Mirnyi from the Yermolino airport in the Kaluga region.

“After being unloaded the plane with 25 tons of diesel fuel took off but then deviated from the course and crashed 25 kilometers away from the runway,” the source went on to say.

The plane fell down in a deserted area, causing no casualties on the ground. The crash claimed the lives of 11 crewmen.

The fire at the crash site has been extinguished.

An Il-76 Candid strategic airlifter

At least eleven people have been killed in an aviation accident after a Russian Interior Ministry aircraft went down in the country's Far East.

The government's four-engine multi-purpose Il-76 Candid crashed shortly after becoming airborne around Yakutia in the eastern limits of Russia.

The incident killed all the crew members onboard, Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry said on Sunday.

"All eleven people died in the air crash," RIA Novosti quoted an unnamed ministry spokesperson as saying.

The airplane was en route to the eastern city of Irkutsk when it burst into flames minutes after take-off.

It is not clear what caused the accident and investigators are heading to the region to probe the mishap.

MOSCOW — A Russian heavy-lift military cargo plane crashed on takeoff Sunday in Siberia, killing all 11 crew members on board, officials said.

The crash was the second in less than a month to involve an Il-76 , the mainstay of the Soviet and Russian air force since the 1970s. These and a string of other accidents have raised concerns about the condition of Russia's aging fleet of Soviet-built aircraft.

The cause of Sunday's crash was not yet known. The four-engine plane had just taken off from Mirny in the Sakha Republic when it tilted to the right and was unable to gain altitude, said Vasily Panchenkov, a spokesman for the Interior Troops, which were flying the aircraft.

The plane hit a slag heap from an old mine and crashed, exploding on impact, he said. The plane, which was headed to Irkutsk, was carrying no cargo but its fuel tanks were full.

The Il-76 crashed about a mile (two kilometers) from the runway in open fields. No one on the ground was reported hurt.

Federal investigators were on the scene and said they have recovered the aircraft's flight recorders.

Russia's air force had temporarily grounded all Il-76 aircraft after an engine broke off the wing of a plane on Oct. 7 as the pilot engaged full throttle in preparation for takeoff. No one was hurt in that accident.

The ban was to have remained in place until experts could determine what caused the engine to break off and could check the fleet's condition. No information was available Sunday from the Defense Ministry.

The Il-76 has four engines mounted under its wings and is capable of carrying 40 metric tons (44 U.S. tons) of big cargo, such as armored vehicles.

The Russian air force also has a small number of the world's biggest An-124 Ruslan transport planes along with smaller and older An-12 turboprop transports, but it relies on the Il-76 for most of its heavy-lift capability.

Earlier this year, the air force announced that it had grounded its fleet of Mig-29 fighter jets and had to carry out costly repairs to make them safe to fly. The move followed a crash in December that occurred when a plane lost part of it tail section. Officials said the accident had been caused by corrosion.

Despite a steady rise in defense spending during Russia's eight-year, oil-driven economic boom, the military has received only a few new aircraft and has had to continue to rely on aging Soviet-built planes.

Crew killed in Siberia plane crash

The plane was unable to gain height before crashing[EPA]

Eleven people have been killed when a Russian military cargo plane crashed on takeoff in Siberia.

Officials said all the crew members on board died in the crash on Sunday.
No one on the ground was reported hurt. Vasily Panchenkov, a spokesman for the Interior Troops, which were flying the aircraft, said the aircraft had banked to the right and had been unable to gain altitude.

The four-engine plane had just taken off from the city of Mirny in the Sakha Republic.

An interior ministry official said: "The plane flew no more than two kilometres at an altitude of 20 to 30 metres before crashing near an old mine." The plane, which was carrying no cargo but had full fuel tanks, exploded as it hit the mine.

An inquiry was launched to find the cause of the crash.

It is the second crash in less than a month involving an Il-76, the mainstay of the Soviet and Russian air force since the 1970s.

Russia's air force temporarily grounded all Il-76 aircraft after an engine broke off the wing of a plane on October 7 in preparation for takeoff. No one was hurt in that accident.

Russia has one of the world's worst air safety records, with elderly Soviet-era aircraft, dated airport facilities, poor maintenance and lax standards contributing to a high number of crashes.